Scale



B. W. KING Dec. 5, 1939.

SCALE Filed Dec. 24, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. r 7:

ATTORNEYS B. W. KING Dec. 5, 1939.

S GALE Filed Dec. 24, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR fer? W W w fi ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 5, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to a scale, and particularly to a scale of the type wherein the load receiving platform is uppermost, with the resisting means and indicating mechanism positioned below the platform. The invention is directed to certain improvements in the mechanism for operating the indicator, which is in the form of a drum, and particularly in stabilizing mechanism for the resisting springs which are stabilized at their lower ends, and also in a bearing structure.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view of a scale constructed in ac cordance with the invention taken partly in vertical section and partly in side elevation.

Fig. 2 is a view taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing some of the mechanism in end elevation.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section showing details substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a bearing mounting structure.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 55 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the mounting for the stabilizing arm.

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view taken substantially on line 1-1 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a cross sectional view taken substantially on line 88 of Fig. 5. 1 In the scale shown there is a housing structure I arranged to rest upon a counter or the like in a retail store, and it may be provided with a sight opening equipped with a lens 2 through which the rotating drum containing a chart may be read. The drum is illustrated at 3. The uppermost part of the scale is a platform 4 having posts 5 which extend through openings in the top of the housing 6 and connect with a subplatform 1.

A support 8 is carried by the frame or housing I for in turn supporting the lever system. The lever system may be the same as that shown in my .co-pending application Serial No. 72,789, filed April 4, 1936, and therefore need not be considered at great length herein. Suffice it to say that there are two levers, one of which is a main lever as illustrated at I0, and another lever ll fulcrumed together as at l2 preferably on a socalled knife edge pivot. One end of the main lever I I] is pivoted on a bracket I3 while the other end is connected to the resisting means soon to be described. The sub-platform l rests upon this lever as illustrated at It, so that the forces on this lever are downward. The other end of the sub-platform is carried by one end of the lever H by links l5 suspended from the lever by a knife edge bearing I6 so that the load forces on this end of the lever II are downward tending to rock the same clockwise as it is viewed in Fig. 1, around the pivotal connection l2. The other 5 end of the lever II, however, is held down by a link ll, the lower end of which has a knife edge bearing with a fixed V bearing which may be carried by the support 8, and the upper end of which is connected to the lever H as illustrated. 10 When a load is placed upon the platform it moves substantially straight downwardly rocking the lever l0 counterclockwise and rocking the lever II more or less clockwise around the pivot I2,

although pivot l2 also moves downwardly with the movement of the lever II. A dash pot may be provided for controlling the movements, which is in the form of an oil cylinder l8 having a piston therein (not shown) connected to the subplatform by piston rod IS. The levers are in the form of frames, thereby having considerable width, as illustrated in Fig. 2; thus the connections l4 and [5 are in duplicate for stability after the manner shown in my other application.

The drum is pivotally mounted on a horizontal 2:; axis, the axis member being shown at 20 carried at opposite ends by bearings as illustrated, and the axis member carries a pinion 2|. Load springs are illustrated at 22 and they are suspended from a rocker arm 23. The lower ends of these load springs are connected to the opposite ends of a rockable member 24. The lower ends of the springs and the rockable member have to be stabilized, since the load is transferred to the same from above. This stabilizing structure takes the form of a single relatively rigid arm 25 pivoted at the opposite end of the scale. This pivotal mounting is such as to prevent the arm from moving lengthwise. This mounting, as shown in Fig. 6, is preferably what is known as a double knife edge mounting. The end of the arm 25 is fashioned to extend transversely across the scale as illustrated at 2B and it is equipped with two double knife edge bearing members 21. Each member has a downwardly extending knife edge 28 seating in a V agate bearing 29, and an upwardly disposed knife edge 30 seating in an inverted V bearing member 31 held down by a screw 32. The knife edges are in line as shown in Fig. 7 and the arm rocks about the line contact as illustrated. In this fashion the arm member 25 is held quite rigidly fixed in position although it is permitted to rock.

The stabilizing arm 25 extends lengthwise of the structure along the side of the drLun as illusof the arm 25.

trated in Fig. 1, and its free end extends transversely of the drum as illustrated at 33. A thrust link 34 has a knife edge at each end, its upper end resting in an inverted V bearing 35 carried by the free end of the lever iii, and its lower end resting in a V bearing 36. This V bearing 36 is carried by the end of the arm 25. For this purpose the end portion 33 has a forwardly extending part 37 (Fig. 3) which connects to an extreme end portion 33 which receives the V bearing 36. The rocker arm 24 has a knife edge (Fig. 3) extending upwardly and resting in the inverted V bearing it also carried by the end of the stabilizing arm 25.

A rack ll is pivotally connected as at 42 on an extension 925 of the end of the portion 53, the rack being arranged to mesh with the pinion and held in mesh relation by an unbalanced weight 454.

Thus it will be observed that the end of the stabilizing arm is directly associated with the suspension springs, the thrust link 3d and the rack 4|. When a load is placed upon the platform it is submitted through the thrust link 34 to the end of the arm 25 which is suspended from the springs, the load being carried by the rocker member 24 and bearing 40. Due to the fact that knife edge bearings are used the lower ends of the springs are restrained from shifting to the right or left as illustrated in Fig. 1 and are held quite positively in the arc of movement of the end This causes the springs to be extended and the downward movement of the rack rotates the drum and the weight may be indicated through the sight opening. Of course, the drum has suitable indicia thereon as partially illustrated in Fig. 1.

Thus the link is capable of stabilizing the lower ends of the springs; the stabilizing arm 25, however, restrains the lower ends of the springs and keeps them from shifting toward and away from the drum as Fig. l is viewed. Moreover, the springs must be stabilized for movement to the right or left as Fig. 2 is viewed. Inasmuch as the stabilizing arm has a relatively widely spaced knife edge bearing at its pivoted ends, as shown in Fig. 6, the structure is capable of meeting and overcoming any torque tending to swing the lower ends of the springs, the lower end of the thrust link and a rack to the right or left as Fig. 2 is viewed. The stabilizing arm 25 is sufficiently strong for this purpose.

Another phase of the invention lies in a moun ing for an agate bearing, particularly where the agate bearing is to seat upon a heavy member which may be a casting. This is shown in Figs. 4, and 8. In these figures, one bearing is illustrated, and it happens to be an inverted bearing, although the invention is applicable to bearings other than inverted bearings. In this View a bearing M is shown which connects the subplatform I with the main lever Ill. The subplatform may be a relatively heavy piece such as a casting having an integral abutment 65. The agate bearing 46 is adapted to be placed against this abutment so as to rest upon a raised portion or fillet 41. This raised portion is formed with a curved surface 48 upon which the V bearing seats, and may be held in place by a sheet metal stamping 49 secured to the sub-platform by suitable screws 58, as shown, fashioned with an overhanging lip 5| and with wings 52 extending from a portion 53. The portion 53 holds the V bearing up against the abutment 45, and the Wings 52 prevent the bearing from shifting axially while the lip 5| holds the V bearing in place upon the curved seat 4'8. A knife edge member 54 cooperates with the V bearing and a sheet metal retaining member 55 may be placed thereon as illustrated to prevent absolute separation. The general object here is that the V bearing is capable of rocking upon the curved surface 48 and thereby the contacting surfaces of knife edge 54 with the V bearing automatically assume alignment in line contact. The V bearing is held in place in a relatively loose manner to permit the same to rock for bearing alignment. While only one of such bearing structures is shown it is to be understood that this bearing structure may be used wherever feasible in a scale structure. This eliminates considerable machining and accurate dimensions of the parts, since the bearing members properly seat upon each other without any particular precaution being taken to line them up.

Reference has been made to the bearings, both as V bearings and agate bearings. These terms are used more or less interchangeably in the art, and wherever the term agate is used herein, a bearing of the V type is included.

I claim:

1. In a scale, the combination of a load receiving platform, scale levers positioned below the platform, an indicating drum positioned below the scale levers, load springs suspended from a point adjacent the levers and depending down along one end of the drum, a thrust link for transmitting the load from the levers to the lower ends of the springs, means interconnecting the levers and the drum for rotating the drum upon lever deflection incident to load, a stabilizing arm having a double knife edge pivot at one end of the drum with the knife edges extending upwardly and downwardly, the axis of which extends transversely of the drum axis, said stabilizing arm being arranged to resist lateral displacement and extending along one side of the drum and having a free end portion positioned adjacent the end of the drum opposite the double knife edge pivot, and means connecting the free end of the stabilizing arm to the lower ends of the load springs and thrust link for restraining the same for controlled movement.

2. In a scale, a scale housing, levers positioned in the upper portion of the housing, a platform for receiving a load and constituting the uppermost part of the scale, an indicating drum positioned below the scale levers, load springs suspended adjacent the upper portion of the housing and depending along one end of the drum, a single stabilizing link having a transversely disposed double knife edge pivot at the opposite end of the drum with the knife edges extending upwardly and downwardly, said stabilizing link extending along one side of the drum, a thrust link for transmitting the load from the levers to the lower ends of the load springs, means for connecting the free end of the stabilizing link to the lower end of the load springs and to the lower end of the thrust link for holding the same positioned in their movement incident to load on the platform, and means interconnecting the scale levers and drum for rotating the drum.

3. In a scale, a scale housing, levers positioned in the upper portion of the housing, a platform for receiving a load and constituting the uppermost part of the scale, an indicating drum positioned below the scale levers, load springs suspended adjacent the upper portion of the housing and depending along one end of the drum, a single rigid stabilizing link having transversely spaced double knife edge pivots at the opposite.

end of the drum for resisting lateral displacement of the stabilizing link, said stabilizing link extending along one side of the drum, a rocker arm connected to the load springs and having a knife edge bearing with the free end of the stabilizing link, whereby the lower end of the thrust link and lower ends of the springs are guided and stabilized, and a rack and pinion connecting the drum and scale levers.

4. In a scale, a scale housing, levers positioned in the upper portion of the housing, a platform for receiving a load and constituting the uppermost part of the scale, an indicating drum positioned below the scale levers, load springs suspended adjacent the upper portion of the housing and depending along one end of the drum, a

single stabilizing link having a transversely disposed double knife edge pivot at the opposite end of the drum, said stabilizing link extending along one side of the drum, a rocker arm connected to the load springs and having a knife edge bearing with the free end of the stabilizing link, a thrust link for transmitting a load from the levers and having a knife edge bearing with the free end of the stabilizing link, whereby the lower end of the thrust link and lower ends of the springs are guided and stabilized, a pinion on the indicating drum and a rack pivotally connected to the free end of the stabilizing arm and meshing with said pinion.

BERT W. KING. 

